People in Brunswick County community want their street passable for emergency vehicles, trash

Part of the road has collapsed over the years.

Residents are talking about what to do about the collapsing road because they've had enough.

Folks who live in the area have to wheel their trash cans to another part of the street because garbage trucks will not drive down the collapsing road.

ASH, NC (WECT) – Folks who live on Maple Road in Ash have
seen their street erode away over the past several years. Now, they want state
or county officials to step in to repair the road.

Part of the problem residents said is the road is considered
a private road. Doug Scalzo is the president of the homeowner's association for
the subdivision and he said he's tried to track down the owner of the road, but
hasn't had any luck.

"Who owns it? I don't know who owns and I'm the
president of this place," he said. "I don't know who owns this road but I can't
find anything on paper who owns it."

He said the road is so bad, large vehicles can't make it
down the street. He said garbage trucks will not drive down the road, so
residents have to move their trash cans down the road for them to get picked
up. Pamela Anello is one of the people who has to do that. But she has some
other issues that are concerning her.

"If waste management's not going to pick up our trash,
do you think an ambulance is going to pick us up if we need them?" she
asked.

She said she's worried that if someone has a medical
emergency or there's a fire, the large emergency vehicles will not be able to
get down the road, possibly endangering lives.

Scalzo said if residents had to fix it, it would cost them
about $500 each. Something he said the state or the county should pick up.

"These people don't have that kind of money," he said. "A lot of people in here are living from
paycheck to paycheck."

He said right now they're exploring their options so
residents don't have to pick up the cost. He said they would like to make the
road a public road instead of a private road since he said it's treated like it's
public by public officials.